Business owners in Terrace will soon be able to sign up to a City of Terrace program allowing the RCMP and city bylaw and community safety officers clear access to their properties to deal with trespassers.
A similar program is already in place in Vancouver and features a no trespassing decal to be placed on the property so that police and others know they can enter the property.
“The biggest challenge we have when it’s [tresspassing] on a private proverty is that for us to get onto the property, we have to get the property owner’s permission,” city community safety officer Skylar Williams told council May 27 in discussing the program.
“With these decals, we can see the decal and go, ‘OK, they don’t want anybody tresspassing,’ giving us permission without a second thought.”
Councillor Dave Gordon wondered about the need for the program and whether it would increase administrative burdens.
“I’m struggling to see how this would play out and whether it would increase your options,” he said.
Willaims said current lengthy process of obtaining permission from property owners can take days, delaying any enforcement action being contemplated.
Councillor Sarah Zimmerman felt the proposal could be what she called a “slippery slope to using a program like this to move people along.”
Mayor Sean Bujtas, however, backed the idea.
“Private business owners have a right to allow who they want on their property,” he said. “This program just gives bylaw officers a tool to deal with issues if needed.”
The program which will roll out within the 2024 operational budget received support from Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce and the Terrace Downtown Improvement Area (TDIA).
A similar bylaw, known as the Terrace safe streets bylaw has been in effect since July 2022 however, the details regarding its effectiveness were not immediately available.